“Deep breaths, Diana. Deep breaths,” she whispered to herself, closing her eyes briefly to bring her emotional reaction under control. Emotions weren’t something she allowed herself to indulge anymore. They only got in the way. The last person she’d loved, truly loved, had been murdered right in front of her, and she’d been haunted by the loss ever since. There was room in her life now for only one thing, and it wasn’t love.
It was vengeance.
Her eyes popped open at the sounds below. Mueller had finished with the now-unconscious man in the alley, and DeMarco was still talking to the woman. Part of her wanted to stand up and scream, warning the other woman.
Don’t trust him.
He’s not as he appears.
DeMarco had taken away the last person who loved her, and for what? Money? Diana ached at the thought that her father had suffered because he was trying to protect her legacy. The Jewel of the Sea had been the only thing left of her mother, and it had been willed to Diana. No doubt her father had received many offers to buy it after her mother’s death, but he’d always told her that he would protect it for her until she grew up.
He’d never had the chance to keep that promise.
Diana adjusted slightly, moving her leg to stop it from cramping. The wind blew a harsh caress against her exposed cheek, and she tugged the black knit cap covering her hair lower. DeMarco was still talking to the woman. What could he be saying that would take this long? But there was no denying the difference in his body language when talking to the woman versus the guy in the alley or Mueller.
Diana smiled as ideas sprang to her mind. For the past year, she’d laid the groundwork to take DeMarco down to the best of her ability, even establishing a fake lease and utilities under an alias. All it had taken was paying the right people at the right times. But none of it meant anything if she couldn’t get close to him.
But it appeared that big, bad DeMarco had a weakness.
“So you have a knight-in-shining-armor complex, huh? I can use that.”
Just then DeMarco paused and glanced up and over his shoulder. It shouldn’t have caused any reaction after all this time, but she thought again how wrong it was that he would be handsome. But wasn’t that always the way of things? From this distance, she couldn’t make out the expression on his face, but Diana got a quick impression of impatience and suspicion before she ducked down behind the brick barrier of the roof.
There was no way he could have seen her from such a distance, right? Despite all the reports she’d read to the contrary, Rafael DeMarco wasn’t superhuman. He was fallible just like all of them. Blood and bone. He would bleed red just like anyone else.
And just like any other man, he couldn’t resist a damsel in distress.
Diana stood slowly and then peered over the ledge again. The alley below was empty save for the still body of the drug dealer. She needed to get out of here. Even in this neighborhood, a body drew heat. Attention she couldn’t afford right now.
After all, she had a plan to execute. She smiled to herself before gathering her equipment.
“One damsel, coming right up.”
chapter two
Diana watched Rafe from across the street.
There he was with his friends. His stride was easy, as if he didn’t have any cares in the world. What was that like?
Her whole life, she’d always felt uncomfortable. Like she was waiting for something bad to happen. Thank you, Rafael DeMarco. Hell yeah, it was his fault. The day he’d come into her life, she’d been scarred in ways she could never have predicted.
With her long-lens camera, she took several photos, zooming in on the digital images as they came up. The tall one with the cocky stride, he was Noah Blake. Blake Security was his.
Had he been the one to call the hit on her father? Was Rafe just a hired assassin? There were so many questions there. Before a few years ago, Noah Blake hadn’t seemed to exist beyond a social security number and patchy school records. Not so much as a menial job at a 7-Eleven.
And then suddenly there he was with enough money to open his own business. A very nice business considering Blake Security occupied the penthouse of this building. She took more photos. Snap, snap, snap, snap. The soft click of the shutter filled the silence in the car.
Blake had his arm wrapped around a woman with a baby strapped to her. Her long, curly hair was flowing in the wind behind her. The way he tucked his arm around her and held her protectively made it clear they were tog
ether. A family unit. No one was breaking them apart.
The one she didn’t know was the younger guy. Oh, he was just as tall and looked just about as deadly as Noah and Rafe did. Dark hair, some tattoos peeking out from under his T-shirt. Of all the guys, he was the hardest to pin down. He hardly ever left the building.
She’d managed to catch him skulking out like he didn’t want to be seen about a month ago. But that had been it.
She knew from her surveillance over the past several months that there were at least four more. Mueller, the Viking from the other night, and a couple of younger-looking ones. They both had dark hair and more boy-next-door kind of looks.
That left the one who didn’t fit. Jonas Castillo. He dressed better than the others, including shoes she recognized as something her brothers would wear. Sometimes a vest, sometimes a suit. Her files said ex-cop. But seriously, what kind of cop dressed like that? He, unlike every other person who worked at Blake, actually had a traceable path. Though a sketchy one. Rumor was Castillo had been sleeping with the wife of the disgraced ex-mayor.